Peter Blue’s legend-inspired story combines the magic of a child confronting a promise from another lifetime with the realism of climate change, which Peter and the initiates at Spiral Hall are destined to take on.
Jump into the story!
Take a peek inside Eye of the Stormlord, the latest novel by Laurel Colless!
Perfect for middle-school students and Harry Potter fans of all ages.
“Well, at least give us a clue,” Wanda begged.
“Okay,” Chu pointed at the locket round Tipi’s neck.
“Look at the letters in the circle of E-A-R-T-H on Tipi’s locket.”
“It’s my locket,” said Wanda, gripping it against her chest.
“Well, actually I kind of want to keep it,” said Tipi.
“But you gave it to me.”
Tipi shrugged.
“Only because you asked me in front of everyone.”
“Do you want me to help you or not?” interrupted Chu.
POCO hovered over Riva’s pom-pom curls and in very quick time gave her straight plus tens for all three virtues.
“A perfect run!” said Artiss Fleur, nodding and clapping. “A finalist for sure.
Then it was Peter’s turn. He tried filling his mind with images of trees to help bring his scores up and managed a plus ten for reverence and a plus seven for thankfulness. But then Peter’s hope score went through the floor to a minus eight. The lowest score so far.
When Chu reached the circle of dwarves, their humming stopped abruptly and they swung around making angry buzzing sounds through pursed lips. But Chu kept edging forward, parting the sea of little people, who stood about waist high to him. Chu wasn’t used to being taller than the others. He quite liked it. The buzzing got louder. The thing on the altar was red and fleshy. What was it?
“Anyway, I’ll hand you over to Peter, who would like to make a request.”
“Me?”
Roly nodded frantically.
“Aah, hello … Agent Livingstone.” A message shot out towards them, like a party streamer. Roly stepped forward to absorb it into his device.
Meet Jessica Lai, our illustrator
“With two young toddlers at home and extreme weather events and wildfires increasingly all around us, climate change is at the forefront of our hearts and minds. On the one hand I want to encourage my children to build a strong connection with nature and appreciate its beauty, but at the same time raise their awareness of the urgency of action needed. Through her books, Laurel Colless has developed a new kind of adventure storytelling that does both, which is why I love this project.”
Jessica Lai, Peter Blue series illustrator
“With two young toddlers at home and extreme weather events and wildfires increasingly all around us, climate change is at the forefront of our hearts and minds. On the one hand I want to encourage my children to build a strong connection with nature and appreciate its beauty, but at the same time raise their awareness of the urgency of action needed. Through her books, Laurel Colless has developed a new kind of adventure storytelling that does both, which is why I love this project.”
Jessica Lai, Peter Blue series illustrator
Jessica Lai is a Taiwanese American living in Copenhagen, Denmark. After completing studies at the University of California and The Royal Danish Academy, she worked in London and Tokyo in the field of architecture, before focusing on her career as an illustrator. Currently her work focuses mainly on narrative storytelling. She is also taking on various projects in editorial and conceptual illustration. Adding architecture into her mix brings Jessica naturally towards solving problems visually, while retaining the spark for imagination and humour. When Jessica is not drawing or wracking her brain for visual ideas she might be playing her clarinet, reading, hiking, playing Nintendo Switch, or spending time with her husband and two gremlin kids.
The Sleeping King
The Sleeping King is a prequel to Eye of the Stormlord and to the whole Peter Blue series.
It tells the back story of Peter’s original quest to Spiral Hall.
Each book can be read as a stand-alone story!
Legend holds that in centuries past, great king was laid to rest, leaving a promise to wake again when the world would need him most. Could eleven year-old Peter Blue be that sleeping king? “He sleeps more than we do!” complain the old people at the Gum Tree Rest Home in the Australian bush, where Peter’s lived since his parents were killed by wildfire. When a pesky wizard-type pulls Peter out of a nap, telling him to wake up and save the world, Peter’s naturally not interested. It’s only when a strange clue in his birthday treasure hunt leads him to Dad’s Global Advanced Intelligence Agency (GAIA) jacket that Peter starts to change his mind.
In the pocket, he finds a card for Spiral Hall—Secret School for the Ecodemically Gifted.
The Anthrog forces are rising on earth. They feed on the stench of human greed, and right now it’s a free lunch. The Anthrogs also want to get to GAIA using Peter’s high-tech jacket as the key. Can Peter get to GAIA before the Anthrogs get to him?